Storms on the Horizon? Changes in the U.S. Legal Environment and Their Implications for Assessment Practice 

The arena of employment class actions challenging employment selection procedures has come full circle.  Twenty-five years ago, most employment class actions challenging selection procedures focused primarily on paper-pencil assessments under a disparate impact theory.  As employers moved away from depending on paper-pencil tests, and implemented broader methods of assessment, these actions changed dramatically into challenges to the "subjective decision making" that allegedly created and/or fostered systemic discrimination.  In response, the pendulum is swinging back to more objective measures that may still result in disparate impact, but protect the employer from claims of class-wide intentional discrimination.  A significant change in the field includes the availability of "off the internet" tests, in place of those formerly known as "off the shelf tests.  In addition, many internet vendors claim to hold the "correct answers" to assessment for potential applicants (for a price, of course) which may ultimately affect not only the security of the test, but also the reliability of the results.  Ms. Rafuse will discuss these issues in the context of the potential for the test developer/administrator participating in litigation either as a fact witness and/or expert witness. 

PDF of Rafuse Paper

Speaker

Nancy Rafuse
Ashe, Rafuse & Hill, LLP